Devlin's Defiance: Book Two of the Devlin Quatrology by Jake Devlin Read Free Book Online Page A

overdressed for the occasion.”
    “ Don't you worry,
Jake,” JJ said, smiling. “We'll take care of that in
short order.”
    “ But first we
dine,” Pam said.

- 26 -
    November
13, 2012
3:16 a.m. local time
    80 feet above the
Aegean Sea

    “ Did you hear
that, Cam?”
    “ Hear what?”
    “ Snap out of it.”
    “ What?”
    “ You were
thinking about Armando again, huh?”
    “ How could you
tell?”
    “ You were
moaning.”
    “ Oh, geez. Out
loud?”
    “ Yup.”
    “ Sorry.”
    “ Well, focus.”
    “ Roger that.
Okay; focused, compartmentalized.”
    “ Thought I heard
a gunshot.”
    “ Where?”
    “ Not sure. Maybe
back where the desk is.”
    “ Let's go.”
    They moved cautiously
away from the crates they'd opened and examined and back toward the
archway. But as they got within about four feet of it, they heard a
scraping sound and a voice crying out.
    “ Help! Help!
Help me! I am hurt and unarmed! Help me!”
    They stopped in their
tracks and moved up to the wall beside the archway, their backs to
it.
    Cam took a quick peek
around the archway and saw the desk and wall rising to reveal a
figure lying on its side at the top of a set of stairs, empty hands
stretched out in front, its face covered in blood. A dim glow
emanated from behind and below the figure, which overpowered Cam's
night vision goggles; pulling back, she dialed them back to low
intensity. Becky did the same.
    “ Help me! Help!
I'm hurt and unarmed. Help me!”
    “ Identify
yourself,” Cam shouted.
    “ Oh, thank god,
you're here.”
    “ Identify
yourself,” Cam repeated.
    “ Dr.
Frenchensteiner. I've been kidnapped.”
    “ Are you alone?”
    “ Yes. I killed
the man who was guarding me. Oh, god, oh, god. Help me! I'm hurt
and unarmed. Help me, please!”
    “ Cover me,
Becks.”
    “ Roger.”
    Cam ducked around the
corner, Becky behind her, both with weapons pointed at the figure on
the floor.
    “ Don't move.”
    “ I will not. I
cannot.”
    Cam ran to and past
him, while Becky stayed back by the corner, keeping her eyes on the
doctor. At the top of the stairs, Cam stopped and looked down the
steps as carefully as she could through her goggles, searching for
any hint of movement. Seeing nothing, she headed slowly and
carefully down. At the bottom, she quartered the room, noticing the
body of a man several feet away, his head bloody and partially
absent. She walked over and took a closer look.
    “ One dead guard,
shot in the back of the head; otherwise clear.”
    Becky went over to the
doctor, flex-tied his wrists in front of him, pulled out her medical
pack and began to treat his facial wounds.
    “ How did this
happen?”
    “ The guard hit me
with his pistol to keep me quiet when I – ow!”
    “ Sorry. Looks
like that bone is broken. Can't do much about your nose. I'll give
you a local and a painkiller.”
    She pulled out a
syringe and administered a shot near the broken cheekbone, then
cleaned up and bandaged the rest of his face. Then she shook a
couple of pills from a container into his hand, and gave him a small
bottle of water.
    “ Thank you,”
he said and swallowed the pills.
    “ Can you stand?”
    “ I am not –
I, I think so.”
    “ Let me help you,
over here to the wall. Good. Now sit down.”
    “ Thank you. Oh,
god.”
    “ What you got
down there, Cam?”
    “ Lots of
equipment, PCs and one big weird contraption,” Cam shouted back
up.
    “ That is a 3D
printer,” the doctor said. “They were forcing me to
adapt it.”
    “ Fiona, do you
copy? Fiona? Rescue One to Fiona. Fiona? Cam, I've got no signal
in here. Come up and watch this guy.”
    “ On my way.”
    When Cam got up the
stairs, Becky ran outside and tried again.
    “ Fiona, do you
copy?”
    “ I copy, Becks,
five by five.”
    “ We're done here,
all clear, target rescued, no friendly casualties. Ready for the
helo.”
    “ Copy that. On
its way. ETA, ten minutes.”
    “ Copy that; ten
minutes. The target has minor injuries, we've got